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BitComet Banned From Private Trackers
An anonymous reader writes "Slyck news is reporting that because BitComet does not recognize the 'private flag' on torrents originating from pirate BitTorrent trackers, this client is being banned from these communities. Private trackers are finding their torrents spread via the private DHT layer, allowing leechers to bypass ratios and download content freely."
Is there a way to change the 'user-agent' of bitcomet to make trackers think it's another client?
The title says "private trackers", but the text says "Pirate trackers" once... Is this a typo, or fruedian?? :)
Slashdot article that reads like total gibberish? You must be new here.
Bittorrent private trackers are sites that depend on a healthy share ratio for success. If you download something, it's tracked, and you must then upload a comparable number in order to stay a member of that site or receive certain benefits of membership. This creates a healthy environment of seeders--not like many public trackers, which have an inordinate amount of leechers. Bitcomet doesn't recognize or follow the conventions that enable such private trackers to exist. It can bypass that, and enable anyone to download from a private tracker site without worrying about a ratio. This is extremely detrimental to the private tracker. I'm in favor of this move by the private trackers; Bitcomet is misrepresenting itself as a fully-functional BT client.
Does this strike anyone else as an ironic, considering that all the people that are downloading *aren't* the owners of the content to begin with?
That's a very bold generalization to make. It is almost RIAA-esqe.
There could very well be a family wishing to share a large collection of digital family videos that they have taken at holidays and birthdays, for instance. They want them to remain fairly private while sharing the content that they own.
BitTorrent has many, many legitimate uses. It is completely incorrect to claim that all users who wish to limit the sharing of their data are pirates.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Azureus is the best for multi-platform.
But for Windows, uTorrent is the best. It's small (115KB), uses not alot of RAM (~5mb) and has most of the features that Azureus has! It even has a bandwidth scheduling function.
The hip way to get your IP. No ads, ever.
BitComet was also found to ignore the "evil bit."
Does anyone with a slashdot id under 5000 understand it?
No.
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
What is the DHT Layer? I would consider myself as being torrent savvy, but I have no clue what this means.
... DHT is a networking protocol that enhances the scalability and efficiency of decentralized networks by creating a virtual index rather than broadcasting search queries. Decentralized networks that utilized DHT technology are able to search and locate files significantly faster than networks that do not use it.
? t=10991
A little bit of research later...
DHT stands for Distributed Hash Table
source (non-authoritative): http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=772
DHT is a layer added on top of the BitTorrent network to assist in Azureus' performance. BitTorrent is a distinct networking protocol, of which is specified by creator Bram Cohen. Anything existing outside of those specifications is not BitTorrent.
source (non-authoritative): http://www.unitethecows.com/forums/showthread.php
(So DHT is not part of the bittorrent specification; At least, it wasn't in May 2005, but who knows now...)
So basically, my understanding now is that the DHT Layer is what allows for the decentralization of torrents. Thus, by not respecting the "private" flag, the clients can leech all day without it affecting their ratio. Slap me if I am wrong or missing something, but aren't most (re:99.999%) of these "communities" that care about leechers, ratios, and keeping their torrents to themselves going to be trading/torrenting copyrighted content/material? Call me crazy, but I just have this hunch that this isn't exactly the latest Knoppix torrent. And then you can call me crazy again, but I must ask why we care what these "communities" ban or don't ban?
But then again, this is slashdot where anything that approaches conservative or rational gets modded down by the mob.
Censorship is obscene. Patriotism is bigotry. Faith is a vice. Slashdot 2.0 sucks.
DHT = "Trackerless". The P2P traffic is not managed by the tracker, like it normally is, but by the clients. This enables faster transfer, but interferes with the tracker's ability to manage piece distribution.
Private = "Tracker only". Well-behaved clients see the private tag and ignore trackerless requests. Usually for sites that have download ratios or other mthods that force users to upload a certain amount of content in order to continue to download.
The problem with using DHT on a private torrent is that the data in the torrent file you download that identifies who you are (for your account ratio) gets passed to other users. That screws up your ratio because others are downloading with your account info. You can very quickly find yourself below the enforced limit if you don't disable DHT.
The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
Here are the bittorrent stats seem by my mldonkey bittorrent client for the last month(non-stop)
According to this they are banning 60% of bittorrent traffic... not a intelligent move IMHO.
BitTorrent Total Uptime: 29 days, 20h:10m 2578216 seconds
Brand Seen
Total 88212 (100%)
BitComet 52601 (60%)
BitLord 30318 (34%)
Azureus 2392 (3%)
Mainline 839 (1%)
BitTornado 466 (1%)
MLdonkey 433 (0%)
ABC 345 (0%)
uTorrent 334 (0%)
Shareaza 206 (0%)
Wow, elitism and ignorance in the same post. You have been here a long time!
The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
At least give downloading Linux distributions as an example. The one you gave was tortured so effectively I have to wonder if you work for the White House.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
Maybe the video-trading family example is weak. I'll offer you a real example instead: Mandrake Club. Mandrake Club members pay an annual fee for access to expanded versions of the Mandrake distribution. This depends on the level (read: cost) of your membership. In all cases, the content that members can download is different from the freely-available Mandrake content. Now, why would Mandrake or its club members want non-members using their private bittorrent distrubution method? In this case, they certainly own the content.
"Grandma, we love you, but it's about time you seed some vids of your own!"
If this "private" flag relies on cooperation from clients, then it is broken.
Why those bitcommet users, they just cheat to get content they didn't pay for. HOW DARE THEY, I should call the MPAA/RIAA depending on what you are sharing. The number of private trackers that share legal content can be counted on the fingers of one hand. I mean why would say a linux distro give a fuck who gets their content and at what share ratio? There are probably enough die hard fans to keep the seeds populated without enforcing it with ratios.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Peer-to-peer sharers thwarted in their ability to control who participates in sharing by a peer-to-peer protocol.
I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
Only the ones with palindrome id's.
Remember how back in the olden days FTP servers allowed w4r3z site admins to set minimum upload:download ratios for users? Imagine if someone created a client that evaded those limits and the ftpd maintainers, who were shocked -- shocked! -- to find that w4r3z kiddies lack integrity and respect for the rights of others, locked it out.
That seems to be what happened here, except with some newfangled file transfer protocol that these lousy kids today use.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
A Freudian Slip is when you say one thing, but mean your mother...
Required reading for internet skeptics
What nonsense! I need a comment us old folks would understand, something that doesn't assume dependence on fads like TCP.
Remember how back in the olden days you'd buy a game and take the floppies to school to trade with your friends? In exchange for your copy of Wing Commander, you'd be allowed to copy everyone else's floppy disks for your 286. Now, imagine if your friend was an Amiga user, and was always bragging about how he had fancy midi sound and better than CGA graphics. So one day, you go over to his house and when he's not looking you shove a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in his floppy drive, and tell him his little brother did it. Where was I going with this story? You damn kids get off my lawn.